Council tables water tower tweaks

Plans for a redesigned water tower in Hartley are up in the air.

The city council on March 8 tabled a decision on changes until next month. The redesign's price tag was too high for some council members, who had previously agreed to revamp the structure.

"I agree with changing it, but not the price," said Council Member Ron Hengeveld. "It's too much."

The city has a maintenance contract with Suez worth $17,500 each year. Included in that price is a 10-year painting agreement. The water tower gets repainted every decade, and the city doesn't have to worry about paying one lump sum because it's already been covered.

However, the repainting cost is only for the current design and any changes would necessitate a higher price tag. The council wanted to keep the heart logos on the tower but replace the cursive writing with more legible block letters. Doing so would cost $9,831 for one logo, $18,475 for two and $25,678 for three.

"It's a lot of money just to go from cursive to regular letters," said Council Member Mary Westphalen.

Council Member Jerry Olson wanted to move forward with the redesign in spite of the price. He was the one who proposed tweaks last summer and believed it was important to proceed.

Olson was strongly against keeping the cursive lettering.

"You cannot figure out what is going on up there," he said.

The water tower's current design was painted in 2010. It was due for cleaning and touchups in 2020, but that work was postponed to 2021 to accommodate the changes.

Superintendent of Public Works Jaron Benz said the water tower would get painted this year whether the council moves forward with the redesigned look or keeps it the same. The group will discuss the matter again next month.

• Fiber installation plugging along

DJ Weber, general manager of The Community Agency (TCA), gave his annual update to the council. He said installation of fiber-optic internet cable has slowed over the past year, and he estimated the project has been delayed six months.

Once installed, the fiber-optic connection will increase internet speeds in the communities TCA serves. Weber said the utility is in the midst of finishing up in Paullina, while Primghar is completed and Sanborn should be done by the end of the year.

Installation is slated to start in Hartley in 2022, with some businesses and homes connected by the end of that year.

Weber said TCA is paying its fiber network as they are building it. He noted the utility has also completed various other system-wide upgrades.

In other business, the council accepted a bid of $5,850 from Phillip Postma for the sale of the city's 2015 Ford Explorer. Six total bids were received for the vehicle, which was previously used by the police department.